Jojo's Bizzare Adventure XX: Sitio Skirmish
by Verdanth
Summary: A group of students followed their noses and went into a barrio to follow a story about a faith healer calling upon his ancestors to heal the sick while using a stick with an arrow-shaped tip. They were able to finish it and one night before their departure, things had started to turn for the worse.
1. John Michael Jopia

I closed my eyes. I extended my legs to the darkness beyond while praying to all the gods that I knew all my life to save me. I didn't even mind the cold wind scraping the bits and pieces of my dry skin as well as the rocky ground the punctured my feet every time I take a step.

I gave them my tears, I screamed for help for as long as I could and the last thing that I wouldn't want to happen to me was to get dragged back at that hell where I left my friends for myself.

We were supposed to graduate after this. We had a bright future ahead of us now that we had finished our research about their culture. Our noses were right; we followed a lead about a faith healer that calls upon the spirits of his ancestors to heal the sick while using an old stick that had an arrow-shaped tip. It was a tough journey that nearly dried our wallets but soon enough, we were able to piece the story together and we were able to see that happen.

We decided to spend our last night in this village to celebrate and that's when it started — one of us had disappeared. He said that he was going to take a piss outside of this old shack that we rented and we haven't seen him since then. Not until we heard a guttural scream.

One of us wanted to get a whiff of the cold night air so she stepped outside only to be greeted by a dead body right at our doorstep. His body looked like his life was sucked out of him. His skin had turned pale and even his eyes had disappeared. His body resembled a salted fish left at the mercy of the sun.

Most of us stepped back and I for one crumbled to the ground. I didn't shed a single tear but I could guarantee that that terrified me to my core. My face was frozen stiff so much so that when we heard the heavy sound of metal hitting the concrete floor, I couldn't let out a scream just like the others as we witnessed the body of my other classmate falling with a gas tank for a head, showering those who were beside him with his own blood and brain matter.

I blacked out.

The last thing that I could remember was the blurry sight of people with shadowy figures floating on their backs, welcoming themselves at the gate in front of our home with a slow chilling beat of applause. The bore their fangs out us like those of predators smiling at their prey and the next thing I knew, I was running.

I don't know how much time has passed since I drowned the sound of their pleas and screams. I just rushed towards the back of our house, and into the dark tree line to escape in a familiar road where I ran till my body had gone numb. I didn't have a destination, I just wanted to run and eventually, I had forgotten where I am. I just kept my pace as my lungs cried for more air and when I turned left in an intersection, that's where I met him.

It was a man walking alone in the dark armed with a stick and a flashlight in hand. He looked like he was in his early forties; he was pretty tall, and he had some firmly built muscles sculpted on his wide shoulders and arms that surprisingly went along with a protruding ball of fat on his belly. He gazed upon me with his eyes filled with compassion as he stepped forward with a form filled with both grace and menace. He let his thin brown jacket flicker along with the nightly wind as the reflection of the moon itself glimmered on the top of his balding head.

His clothes were pretty common to what they could consider their only form of something similar to a police force. I've talked to a few of them before they refer to themselves as a _tanod._

"Please, save them… my friends… I need your help…" I cried out, only stopping to get a few gasps of air as my legs finally gave in and fell to the ground like a tower of cards.

"I see, can you tell me where they are?" He said as he scratched the side of his head and I gave him a nod as a reply. Silence had overtaken the air for a brief moment until his face stiffened and his lips curled with a satisfied smile. "Ah perfect, someone's following you." I glanced at my back just to see a shadow of a man getting closer by the second and when I turned my head towards him, he pointed me at the darker side of the street and said, "Head, towards that bush over there and don't go out until I say so."

He gave me a reassuring smile that gave warmth to my stiffened arms. I crawled my way through this cold path of dirt to hide behind the thick bush nearby just as he instructed. The space between the edge of the path and that plant ushered me in and I turned around just in time to see that man making its entrance with a girl struggling to get out of his embrace.

"Heh, you think that I'd let you just get away that easy When's everyone back home is having fun?" The other man laughed as the one who I had just met approached him in silence.

"Ah… so it's you," he said with a lighthearted tone as he pointed his finger at him."What's up Robert, nice night huh and nice girl, you got there, wanna tell me about what happened?"

"Oh… If it isn't our JM" The man who's probably named Robert stepped back with caution as he kept his hostage close to him "Back off, the chief has already ordered us to take care of them so what's wrong with having a little fun, besides, this girl made me chase her all the way here. She deserves some kind of punishment dontcha think?"

My heart started to beat. I'm happy that someone managed to run as well and now, we're both gonna be rescued but then, who could it be? It can't recognize her.

"Ah… so there's more." JM's voice then shifted into a more serious tone which was slow and commanding. "Would you be a lamb and tell me where they are?"

"Screw you, this girl is mine and so are the others. She's gonna die by tomorrow anyways and you're not ordered to take care of them anyway so back off." Robert responded by dragging his feet forward and pointing a knife towards him. I tried to move forward without making too much noise to get a better glance at what's happening and it didn't take long for me to recognize who was the one he had in his arms. It was me.

"Ah well let me rephrase this. I want you to tell me where they are, so start talking or else I'll—"

"You really think that I'd follow someone like y—"

"Silver Toes!"

I saw myself taking a form that resembled the ghostly figure that that person had on his back as he made his entrance into our home. The only thing that I could make of was its lean body and probably a shade of brown skin that gave off a metallic sheen.

It raised its right arm and buried its elbow deep in Robert's chest that pushed him back gasping for air. The figure then turned around and followed its earlier attack with a swift straight punch that made him bite his tongue.

I heard a loud crack and he fell to the ground as the shadow fades into the night. He pressed his hand onto his face to cover his nose while he groaned and that's when JM approached him.

"So Robert, you feel like talking yet?" He squatted beside him and spoke with a voice as if he was smiling.

"Fu—"

The upper body of the ghost reappeared in an instant to cut his words with a punch.

"Nope, that's not a name Robert. I need their names."

"You…" He rolled to the side to get himself some space to stand up on his feet. "You think that you're so… just because you have a stand with you? Bullshit, even I could get one right now if you want and I don't even need one to kil—"

"Yeah. Because you're a coward." JM then clicked his tongue repeatedly as he scratched the back of his head.

"You, you bastard. You're looking down on me, aren't you? I'm doing as much as you do and you know it. You've killed your fair share of tourists as well and these guys knew too much. They learned about the arrow that your leader uses and if she comes back you'll b—"

"Silver Toes…" He whispered once again but this time, three of them appeared. One of them punched him in his face to stop his words and the other two followed; covering his body with a flurry of punches so strong that it tore through the air around them. Their combo ended up with a punch in his stomach, a punch in his side and an uppercut that sent him to the ground, twitching as he lay there clinging to his life. JM then humphed as he placed his hand over his face like a mask saying, "I asked you one thing and you didn't have to tell me something that I already know. They shouldn't have to die for this. But for that yeah, screw it. I'll just find them myself… Miss, are you still there? Come out."

"Ye… yes… I'm still here." I replied as I burrowed my way into the street. I walked towards him with an awkward smile as I clasped my chest, still in fear that this man on the ground whos now beaten black and blue would stand up and grab me.

"Now tell me where your friends are, I need to go home in about two hours or so," he demanded. His voice didn't strike fear into me but instead, it gave me a sense of warmth and security.

"Wait.. who are you?" I was supposed to give him a nod but my words came out of nowhere before I could even think. To that, he raised his right brow with a confident smile saying,

"John Michael Jopia at your service, you can call me JoJo."


	2. Silent Sanctuary

The night grew longer, silent and before she knew it, she found herself treading her blistered feet towards the place where she had escaped from. She was shivering, the silhouettes of houses given shape by the dim lights inside of their space seemed so distant. The air around her grew cold and thin to an extent where she had to grasp on a piece of her skin over her chest, believing that doing so would make her heart continue beating.

Then she had a sudden thought, an idea that tore her brain apart and pinned the flesh on her legs. She stopped moving and looked at his broad back with her teeth chattering.

"What… what's going to happen?" She whimpered, flinching at the sight of his satisfied smile illuminated by the dim light of his basic phone as he turned towards her.

"Well… I was supposed to look for someone for tonight because someone kept nagging me for her favorite but now, we're gonna check up on your friends." He said as he looked at his side following with a few words too soft for a whisper saying, "and apparently my supposed friends as well."

"For?" She clenched her jaws as she tilted her head with a distant expression that shares a cat wondering if she should stay or run.

"For dinner. I texted him too, he said that he got two other people with him and we'll meet them there. That's some luck right there." He then crossed his arms along with a wide grin.

"You… you're taking me back?" She took a step back with her body trembling. "Why… a-aren't you supposed to take me somewhere safe or something?"

"Well, I guess that's what I should do… but then again it's your choice. You're free to run but that doesn't change the fact that, well, some of us screwed up and it's now our job to fix it." He then turned his back and started walking. "Besides, I think that we're gonna need your phone."

She bit her lip. She felt the sudden urge to squeeze her eyes shut as she relived the memories of her leaving her friends at the mercy of those who attacked them. She knew full well what would happen and to that, she embraced herself as she traversed the space in front of her that grew darker every time she takes a step.

She brushed her brown wavy hair at the side of her head as she followed the man that showed her the path toward her home. She found him occasionally looking through the houses and the trees that crept around them and just when they're about to make a turn, he stopped to raise his hand.

"Wait a second," JoJo said with his jaws locked and with his eyes taking a serious tone. "I can't explain much yet about what happened earlier, but trust me, let's walk around at the side instead."

She gave him a nod. She followed his lead and went through the bushes and on the road, he saw the same three ghosts treading the same path that they were supposed to take as they slowly took their form as her, him and the guy that chased her down which was now behaving as if he was taken hostage. They continued to move, hopping from shadow to shadow until they found themselves at the side of their hut and those figures right in front of its gate.

"Oh, JoJo… you're late to the party once again. I was just about to clean up while the other boys are having a bit of fun at the back." The man puffed out his chest with a wide smile as he spread his arms to welcome him. "Well, one was energetic enough to escape but still, thank you for bringing her back to me, I could give her to you if you want and you could leave her to Robert right there once you're done…"

The figures took a step forward without a word. They've bought JoJo and the girl enough time to scan the area around him and they didn't like what they saw. JoJo moved his arms at his side to stop her from moving but when he did, she was already gone. What they saw was the bodies of her friends; bloodied, half-naked and lifeless on the porch and on the table right in front of their house and now, she's running towards them at full speed, gritting her teeth and clasping her hand into a ball of fist.

"You… dammit!" It wasn't long before the man in the middle of the yard took notice of her. There was a moment of bewilderment that showed in his face but then, it was replaced by a grin of full confidence. She was approaching him but he didn't take even a single step back, he felt that something was wrong so he commanded those figures to abandon their posts to run towards him with all their might and in a span of half a second, those three figures found themselves impaled by a thick bamboo stem that appeared out of nowhere.

"You monster!" She shouted as she pulled her body down to stop herself from moving forward after seeing the figures get impaled within the blink of an eye. The man in the yard then dropped his smile while knitting his brows and after a moment, JoJo revealed himself out of the darkness, battered and with blood running from his head and mouth as if he got himself run over by a car.

"You're right… I should have brought you in a safer place instead… damn it…" He groaned.

"I agree… that wasn't a smart move coming from you…" the man replied by taking two steps forward and JoJo summoned his ghost to pull her two steps back. The man's face turned sour and JoJo returned that gesture with a smug grin.

"Well… you guys did too and now. I have to fix it."

"What do you mean? We are doing our jobs like usual. What's wrong with that?" The other man shouted.

"Well it's both our jobs to dispose of tourists that knew too much but the elder has decided to let them live," He replied, clutching his sides and letting out a loud breath through his nose as he saw a silhouette of a man slowly moving towards his side."They didn't have to die, tell me what happened or I swear after this you'll get a hole blown through your chest."

"You… you what? With that weak stand of yours?" The man shouted, rolling his eyes with a self-conceited smile while he raised his hands to the air as if he was waiting for a huge crowd to laugh. The shadow behind him took form and to her, it became much more clear. It appeared over his back with its arms crossed over its chest, showing its metallic deep blue skin and hands that seemed to have been reversed in order. "Go on then… walk up to me and see for yourself. I'll kill you even before you could even take a single ste—"

The sound around him was eradicated, leaving him in a space full of vibrations that were devoid of the things that he was supposed to hear. It froze him. His proud smile has turned upside down and his beads of sweat turned to ice as fear clawed its way into his back, accompanied by a familiar rancid stench of spicy vinegar and burning kerosene. Nevertheless, at that moment, he felt braver than anyone else. He took a quick breath and turned his head to try and see who it was, but he felt a sudden thrust and he was nudged forward.

His breath felt short and it was as if his life was suddenly drained out from his chest. He blinked, he opened his mouth and when he looked down with his eyes wide, he saw a bloodied silvery arm sticking out from where his heart was. His blood gushed out along with a burning sense of pain that made him want to scream but he couldn't, he didn't even know what just happened. He just felt that it was pulled out at the next second and with that, his body crumbled to the ground breathless, not minding the hollow space in his body as he tried to catch the air that was supposed to be in his reach. The sound came back at the next moment as if reality has finally fixed itself and the sound of the howling breeze gave color to his ears which were followed by a confident whisper saying,

"This is my stand, Silent Sanctuary…"

"What the hell… just happened?" The girl then covered her mouth in shock, remembering that brief moment where she heard nothing. She looked towards JoJo to see if he had the same reaction but his expression surprised him even more.

"Hey there Berns…" Jojo let out a breath of relief. He took a few steps towards him and followed, "You got what I asked for?"

"Yeah… I left the basket at the back though, the night is still young so I can't get my goods bloodied. I wonder wha—"

"You're in my range now, you shouldn't... underestimated me! I'm dragging you… with me J… Orange and Lemons!" The man jumped back from the ground, roaring as he raised his arms towards JoJo. His stand appeared and although it was almost broken, it summoned a thick stem of bamboo out of the ground but to their surprise, it sprang up to his opposite side, hitting nothing but air.

He stood there without a word until the same ashen stand reappeared and broke his neck with a sweep.

"Really… you could have died there without me so buy me a drink Jojo, all this work makes my throat so dry," said a man with an easygoing tone, revealing his thin build while holding a bloodied knife as he stepped out of the darkness of that home. He then brushed his wavy hair aside and followed, "The other three in the house were taken care of. Lucky and I managed to find a single survivor, she's almost dead though."

Bernie then scratched the back of his head and said, "Oh well, it's good that one manage to s—"

"Alright... Alright… save the good news for later and shut up or else I'm gonna run and leave this girl to die." A younger man then came out of the hut, carrying a girl dressed in a robe made out of a bloodied blanket. She lost both legs, an arm and her skin had turned pale. It was a picture that terrified her to her core, realizing that this group of men before her didn't even flinch at the sight of her classmate's body. It was as if this bizarre moment that they shared might just be their everyday thing.


End file.
